I had recently replace my 25 year old Phase Linear 400 amp with the NAD and was enjoying the smoother, more transparent sound, though a less well controlled bass. I thought my next upgrade would be a new CD or SACD player, but I was disappointed with a sound of a couple of
The Monarch SM70 Pros are great sounding, beautifully built amps, but at only 40 watts at 4 Ohms in stereo mode, I would have had to buy a pair to effortlessly drive the MMGs. Also, I was hankering for a new pre-amp with remote control. I figured a pair of Monarchy's plus new pre-amp would run me $3000+ which was over my budget.

So I was glad to also have the chance to hear the Bel Canto eVo1i integrated. I was able to compare the Bel Canto directly with my NAD and also briefly with the Monarchy's. (Because the Bel Canto doesn't have "power-in" jacks, I drove the NAD and Monarchy's using the "pre-out" jacks on the Bel Canto for a fairer comparison.) The Bel improvement was of the same character as the Monarchy's, equal or a little better in all categories.

But the improvement going from the entry-level NAD to the mid/high level Bel Canto was huge surprise to me. I can characterize the Bel Canto eVo2i as sounding extremely neutral, extended but sweet on the top end, ultra-transparent, precise imaging, and spatially revealing. But its not what I would call "warm", (like the NAD). I sweetened the high top end with Kimber PBJ interconnects, (which are relatively high capacitance, low impedance) -- with a different CD play this might have been unnecessary.

As it was, many of my CDs that I thought had digital "hash" were revealed to have better spatial information and instrument harmonics than I had ever suspected. Hence I'm quite glad I decided to first update the amp rather than the source. Onthe other hand, I have a few CDs that I had thought were "musical" that now sound quite murky by comparison.

I have rate the eVo2i as only a '4' for value. The unit is pretty expensive, and to be fair, I haven't had the opportunity to compare it directly with various other, well-regarded integrated amps are in the $1500-2500 range, such as the Creek 5250SE, the Naim 5i, Arcam A90, or Simaudio i-3. If he or she has the chance, I would recommend that a prospective purchaser audition as many of these others as possible. However I'd bet the Bel Canto eVo2i will be a front-runner for most people.

My unit was a used Gen I version; the Gen II is supposed to be even better (and hopefully corrects some of the minor flaws [see Weaknesses below] of my unit). My value rating is based on the list price; at my used price, it's certainly 5/5.

This is a GREAT integrated amp. It easily outclasses anything below $1K, but I honestly didn't do a lot of comparisons with other units in its $3K price range, esp. since I only paid $1.5K. The digital features (see Strengths below) make it rather unique and appealing to me, in any case; and I have no complaints about the sound in my (bedroom) settting (with mini-monitors incapable of deep bass anyway), so I'm not the least bit interested in replacing this baby, regardless... Plus, I've never heard vibrophones reproduced so beautifully & realistically. The clarity of the bell-like midrange is very seductive!

I actually did also audition the Bel Canto Evo2 Gen I power amp in my main system, and my only minor complaints there were a perceived lack of frequency extension in both the bass and very high treble regions, as well as a slight lack of pace (or quickness of transients), compared with my Simaudio Moon W-3 solid state power amp. I've read that the Gen II amps improve on these minor weaknesses, however, and I'm interested in trying one...